Has anyone tried AGFA SCALA (ISO 200)? What paper would you get a print on? Where does this B&W slide film fit into the scheme of things?

-- Frank Horn (owlhoot45@hotmail.com), November 14, 2001

Answers

beautiful results black and white lsides -- good tonal range and definition. In short, in the black and white lside you can get the beautiful print effect of the best B&W. Purportedly better than other B&W slide approaches, but I can not attest.

Printing -- well, it is a positive slide, like color. You can print it on Cibachrome as if it were color, or you can dupe it (with some loss of what it is all about), and you can scan it (which may be a place for it, though you can scan color and make it B&W). So, I don;t know were it fits anymore. I wouldn;t use it if your target is a print -- too many good print films out there.

-- Lacey Smith (lacsmith@bellsouth.net), November 14, 2001.

also, I thought it rather expensive, needs to be mailed to select locations for development, etc. But, the beauty is real. Not so luxurious on hgh contrast subjects, I think.

-- Lacey Smith (lacsmith@bellsouth.net), November 14, 2001.

For pros who show work as transparencies, it fits into their portfolio with their color. It saves the step of print-making (both in time and quality) It makes for easier filing (mounted slides vs. strips of negs). Allows you to toss the duds and keep only the best.

I would have given it serious consideration, but not at $20 for film and processing PLUS shipping costs to lab PLUS 6-12 days delay. I can do neg. film in my bathroom for $7 in 30 minutes.

Scala slides CAN be processed in Kodak's Direct Positive chemicals for TMax 100 (as can almost ANY silver negative film) - the tones aren't quite as pretty as Agfa's own labs, though. And the chemistry is almost as much hassle as going to the labs (bleaches n' stuff).

To get prints - scan the suckers.

-- Andy Piper (apidens@denver.infi.net), November 14, 2001.

Wait a minute... a 36-exposure roll of Scala from B&H costs $7.50. As a comparison, a 36-exposure roll of Provia 400F costs $9.50 (comparing chrome to chrome; obviously, conventional B&W costs a lot less). As for processing, if you use the mailers available at B&H, processing costs $5.95 (regular E-6 mailers from B&H, which go to A&I, cost $5.50). So cost is somewhat irrelevant for people who normally shoot chromes.

As for printing, forget Ilfochrome; that's out these days. You can get Scala scanned and printed digitally on a Lightjet, just like E-6, and without a color cast (if the printer knows what (s)he's doing). Scala is a beautiful film, and you should try it if you haven't. As for processing wait times, it doesn't matter for me; I use mail order for color, and the times are similar.

-- john costo (mahler@lvcm.com), November 14, 2001.

And I might add: easy to store, easy to edit, MUCH easier to judge sharpness with a loupe as compared to regular B&W, can be easily pushed with great results, and can be projected. It has a great tonal range, and makes wonderful digital prints on Fuji Crystal Archive. Granted, if you want to do our own processing/printing, look elsewhere. I don't have the time for that, and so Scala is very appealing to me. It's the only B&W film I use.

-- john costo (mahler@lvcm.com), November 14, 2001.

the best use for SCALA is not to shoot the real world (except for special situations) but to make BEAUTIFUL slides of your work on a copystand. it will pick up a bit of contrast so you can have the lab PULL development, run tests to taste. i use it to dupe all my B+W work, and the other trick, to make B+W versions of color prints. you can even use the 120 version for nice, big chromes that will look great on the light table of any editor or art director.

xx

-- alan chin (rat101@aol.com), November 14, 2001.

Hard to say. I asked the same question earlier, elsewhere. In many stores too. Apparently Agfa itself does the best paper work, but there always seem to be problems cropping up here (at least in Germany). That's why I've never even tried it out yet.

-- Michael Kastner (kastner@zedat.fu-berlin.de), November 14, 2001.

I've used Scala a lot, but never pushed - I'll have to try that sometime. I live in Miami and we can purchase the film and have it processed at Color Reflections, which does a fine job.

Scala looks great, with a lovely range of tones. I recently got some nice results with a IIIf and Voigtlander lenses. My transparancies seem to be slighly brown from neutral, but only very slightly.

-- Thomas Herbert (therbert@miami.edu), November 15, 2001.

Here are two examples of Scala; http://www.excelimaging.com/new_page_8.htm I'm too lazy to figure out the link rules so just copy and paste the address.

I found this film hard to work with digitally because of the extremely high contrast. For better photographers who know how to use this I suppose it's useful. But for normal shooters like myself I'll stick with Ilford XP-2 Super.

-- Tim (tjkamke@excelimaging.com), November 15, 2001.

I have used Agfa Scala black and white transparency film on a few occassions and found the results to be excellent. I photographed some architectural subjects and was very impressed with the results. I have not used the film in a while. Maybe it is time to "rediscover" this film, this time using my 50mm Summicron and my 90mm Elmarit-M.

-- John Alfred Tropiano (jat18@psu.edu), November 15, 2001.

An alternative to Agfa Scala is to use a conventional B&W film and have it processed by dr5 Labs in New York. The results are stunning, and either neutral tone (like Scala) or a sepia/gold tone is available. See the dr5 site for details: www.dr5.net

They have sample images from numerous films and recommendations.

-- Ralph Barker

-- Ralph Barker (rbarker@pacbell.net), November 15, 2001.

I love the stuff. It is somewhat expensive and takes a while to process...I believe the only lab in the US is in Miami. I keep meaning to try dr5. They are in Los Angeles...about a 30 minute drive for me...but haven't gotten around to it yet. They will make slides from almost all B&W emulsions. Anyway, here's a Scala shot I took in Paris with an Olympus Stylus Epic...if I can get the html right.

-- Jim Tardio (jimtardio@eartlink.net), November 15, 2001.

There are at least three Scala labs in the USA. Here's the link to the California lab:

http://www.mainphoto.com/agfa%20scala/ agfa%20scala%20processing.htm

-- john costo (mahler@lvcm.com), November 15, 2001.

Ah, better remove that space in the link...

-- john costo (mahler@lvcm.com), November 15, 2001.